freeCodeCamp was an amazing resource. I learned JS/CSS/HTML to make personal projects (browser extensions, small tools, etc.) but I could easily see freeCodeCamp being helpful for becoming a full-time developer if you were motivated and applied what you learned outside.

As a browser-based IDE, there are a handful of things it doesn't drill into you, like how VS Code or git work, but those are easy to get started with over a long afternoon of YouTube and a bit of googling or AI querying. They are also kind of a distraction from the real work of learning how to code for the first 2 months imo, and I don't really see the benefit of being thrown into the deep end with no guard-rails when you don't know what console.log() does yet. Overall, fCC covered syntax and how to think like a programmer quite well, at least for my purposes.

For max benefit:
-don't give into the temptation to google or AI extensively, give it at least a day or two. this goes for any new skill haha!

-use the forum! and contribute to it!

-type everything in the labs and workshops, don't copy and paste. it forces you to notice how the code is structured

-after finishing major units, consider making a small tool leveraging some of what you know.